The Other Dark Meat

After I published my first short story in 2009, and becoming addicted to receiving acceptance letters, I spent several hours scouring the internet for possible markets. Little did I know about Duotrope.com back then.

I ended up making three lists that day. One contained the names of smaller markets I wanted to submit to, and the second the name of that one market I had been published in, Be-A-Better-Writer.com.

The final list held the names of the larger markets I wanted to be pu...

After roughly twenty days of writing, I’ve finished the first, and extremely rough, draft of my very first novel.

It only stands on about 30 000 words (which is about half of what I’m aiming at), but I haven’t included any descriptions or thoughts in my first draft. For now I’ve basically just written down the actual story, getting the plot down on paper. There are also a few key scenes that I just wrote down in a sentence or two, knowing that I’d only end up rewriting them on...

It would be ideal if the world did not end in 2012. But, because that’s out of my hands (Or is it?), I’ll just set out a few goals that I can and hopefully will achieve.

Normally it’s not a good idea to make New Year’s resolutions public, but I’m going to stick to a bit of advice I grew up with: “Show your flaws. Let people notice them. Only then will you truly make an effort to correct them.” So by letting you all in on my goals for this year, I’ll hopefully be more mot...

Although 2011 was layered with personal challenges, it truly was a great year for me. As challenges tend to do, they made me stronger, not just as a writer or teacher, but as a person.

On the writing front it has been my best year yet, publishing twenty five short stories. My personal goal was to get twenty stories published before the end of the year; I’m now on thirty six. And yes, I’m still counting. Counting my blessings, so to say.

I’ve also managed to break into a few ...

The first week went by in a flash, although it’s actually only been five days. But I’m happy to report I went well over my intended word count.

I had a change of heart just before putting the first word down, and decided to write the book in third person. Due to the fact that it benefits the story better, it just made more sense that way.

At the moment I am 15000 words in, so everything is going to schedule. There were a few moments where fear and a lack of confidence started...

Halloween 2011 will most likely go down as my most memorable yet. I’ll tell you exactly why later on.

Halloween in South Africa basically consists of watching scary movies. There are no trick-or-treating (unless a small neighbourhood decided otherwise), creepy pumpkins or any other decorations. A few shops will however try and score some money by selling a few Halloween themed goodies.

So after spending every Halloween watching a blood-smeared bucket load of horror movies, I dec...

Six o’ clock on a Friday morning and I am wide awake. And yes, I am on holiday. So why have I been awake since four, you might ask. Let’s call it anticipation. Perhaps ‘excitement’ sounds a bit more appropriate.

After writing fifty seven short stories, of which thirty five have been published and eighteen are still taking space on the desks of editors from all over the world, I’ve finally decided to write my first novel. I’ve tested the novel-writing waters for the last few m...

Like a lot of people I know, I’ve always wanted to get more involved with charities. But, as most people, I’m just too busy. Being a teacher, writer and husband is more than a full time job. And I don’t even have kids yet.

Then there’s the famous, "I’ll do it when I have more time. When I have enough money to scale down a bit or when I retire."

But I recall someone once saying you should live your live as if you are already where you want to be. I want to be a successful...